ORGANIZATIONAL STRESS AND ITS IMPACT ON WORK PERFORMANCE

Bucurean Mirela
University of Oradea, Faculty of Economics
Costin Mădălina-Adriana
University of Oradea, Faculty of Economics

Abstract: Nowadays, in times of economic crisis, most managers or entrepreneurs have to cope with
a lot of new job challenges which can easily transform into stressors. Work related stress is of
growing concern because it has significant economic implications for the organization. Even if
some stress is a normal part of life, excessive stress can influence one’s productivity, health and
emotions and it has to be taken under control. When people lose confidence, they refuse to take
responsibilities, they get quickly irritated, they are unsatisfied of their job, their performance will be
very low and the organization will be in danger. Fortunately, most managers and entrepreneurs
know which stress main symptoms are and have the necessary knowledge for managing and
reducing it before it can affect employees’ daily work.
Stress can have an impact both on the organizational welfare and on personal behavior of
supervisors or employees, that’s why, the ability of managing it can make the difference between
job’s success or failure.
The purpose of this paper is to study Romanian managers and entrepreneurs from Bihor County’s
perception regarding the stress phenomenon, if they feel that they are affected by stress, if they
promote some methods to reduce it and if they consider that stress can influence the organizational
performance.
As a research method we used an online questionnaire, applied to a number of 75 managers and
entrepreneurs that represent the target group of the project "Flexibility and performance through
management", project financed by the European Social Fund - "Invest in people". Each participant
had to answer a number of 35 questions regarding stress and the results will be presented in this
paper. The main conclusion is that, even if job itself is seen as a stressor, there are other important
factors that can produce stress such as: family problems, personal problems or social problems.

Keywords: organizational stress, impact, managers, entrepreneurs, work performance

Cod JEL lucrare: M54

1. Organizational stress The main types of organizational stress can

Organizational stress can be defined as an be considered the following (1):
emotional, cognitive, behavioral and Eustress represents a positive kind of stress
physiological response to the aggressive and and helps people to prepare their mind and
harmful aspects of work, work environment body for whatever is about to occur in the
and organizational climate. It is a condition future. Eustress can develop one’s energy,
characterized by feelings of helplessness in creativity or competitive spirit and can offer
solving tasks. the strength for achieving performance.
In other words, work-related stress is people’s Distress occurs when something affects one’s
reaction when they have to face some routine for a short period of time. It has a
demands or special tasks that are out of their negative impact on people and it contains the
abilities or knowledge. following categories of stress: acute stress
Types of organizational stress and chronic stress.

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Acute stress appears when a change Sources, symptoms and effects of stress for
transforms one of the usual works that a entrepreneurs/managers
person do. Although it seems to be an intense After analyzing the causes of organizational
type of stress, it passes very quickly. The stress we can distinguish between those who
symptoms to that king of stress are: act solely on entrepreneurs or managers.
headaches, hypertensions, rapid heartbeat and These causes can be the following:
stomach problems. - the diversity and complexity of tasks;
Chronic stress is the most serious type of - high responsibilities that require
stress and can be very harmful for people’s management positions;
health. It occurs when something changes the - concern for the organization’s future;
routine for a long period of time, from weeks - aware of the potential effects of a poorly
to years. This kind of stress appears when developed decision;
facing several work or personal failures. - inappropriate management style;
- excessive centralization of authority;
2. The effects of stress on the - the existence of poorly professional trained
entrepreneurs/managers and stress subordinates;
management - the extension of work program due to the
emergence of some special situations.
The relationship between stress sources, symptoms and diseases caused by stress for
managers/entrepreneurs, can be graphically represented like this (Fig. no. 1):

Figure no.1 The relationship between stress sources, symptoms and diseases caused by stress
for managers/entrepreneurs (2)
Adaptation by: Agrawal, Rita, Stress in life and at work, Response books, London, 2001, p. 146

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Ways of managing individual stress The third area in which people can make
There are a lot of actions that individuals can interventions refers to the alteration of
take in order to manage their stress level and mindset, including:
to prevent them from developing into more - modification of perspectives;
serious problems. The main positive actions - self-talk;
that people can take fall into three categories: - positive thinking;
- modification of behavior;
- development of a healthy lifestyle; Ways of managing organizational stress
- alteration of mindset. There are a lot of strategies that can be
When talking about behavior, the applied when talking about managing
interventions that can be made are: organizational stress, such as:
- being more assertive: listen to others, - early prevention and elimination of work-
respect others, tell others what you feel or related problems that can produce stress;
need, negotiate, compromise, being self- - change work demands;
confidence. - ensure that employees have the necessary
- improving time management: establish knowledge and abilities to perform
priorities, make a list of what must be done, effectively their jobs;
eliminate time-wasting activities, focus on - improve constantly the technique used at
essentials, be able to delegate effectively, work;
learn to say “no”, organize daily activities, - apply a proper management style;
make a list of targets. - ensure a proper work environment;
- avoid perfectionism - offer employees a stress management
- avoid getting angry over things that you training in order to teach them ways of
cannot influence; overcoming stress;
- accept (sometimes) the errors of yourself - increase the support needed by employees;
and others; - ensure a good level of cooperation within
- smile and give affection; employees;
- practice being a good listener; - clearly define disciplinary procedures;
- learn to relax; - establish a supportive working culture in
- learn to turn stressful life events into order that employees feel integral to the
challenges for personal growth; organization and are motivated to achieve its
- get used to take some “time out”. goals;
As far as healthy lifestyle is concerned, the - offer employees the necessary support and
main activities that people can follow are: information for developing their career;
- a healthy diet: alcohol taken with - encourage flexible work schedules;
moderation, limited quantity of caffeine, - try to manage the change process in a way
avoid carbohydrates, eat fruits, vegetables that employees cannot become stressed due to
and sufficient quantity of water; it.
- regular exercise: reduce muscle tension, 3. Case study - aspects of stress perception of
increase energy, maintains self-image, entrepreneurs and managers from Bihor
appearance and tends to control weight, helps County
to clear the mind of worrying thoughts; The proposed research was conducted by
- relaxation: improve sleep patterns, using the database of the project "Flexibility
ameliorate pain, reduces stress response, and performance through management"
increase self-esteem; developed in partnership by the Faculty of
- increase leisure time and taking up hobbies. Economics and Business Administration,
University of Craiova and the Faculty of
Economics, University of Oradea as a

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partner, no of contract The target population is the target group -
POSDRU/81/3.2/S/57620, implementation Bihor County entrepreneurs and managers,
period: 12/02/2010 to 01/31/2012 in the participants in the course of the project -
amount of: 2,137,229 lei. "Flexibility and performance through
The project's general objective is to develop management", project financed by the
the professional skills of general managers in European Social Fund - "Invest in people".
order to prepare them to promote the The database of the target group -
adaptability and the introduction of new entrepreneurs and managers from Bihor
technologies. The specific objectives are: the County is based on online questionnaires.
professional training of 180 entrepreneurs and This database has a total of 75 entries.
SMEs managers from two development The respondent’s structure
regions in order to promote new forms of In terms of affiliation to a business category
work organization and new technologies with entrepreneur/manager, 40% of respondents
reduced environmental impact; the increasing are entrepreneurs and 60% are managers at all
of informational level of the target group levels within the SMEs.
entrepreneurs and managers when talking Gender structure. The share of women in the
about the necessity of introduction and the total number of respondents is 40%, 60% are
compliance of safety and health rules at work. men.
Further the study will be referred to the target Age. Taking into consideration the age in
group of the NW - Bihor County. completed years, the situation is as follows:
16%, 18 – 24 years, 73%, 25 – 45 years, 9%,
Research Methodology 45 – 54 years, 2%, 55 – 64 years.
This research is a descriptive one and its aim Regarding family status, most participants are
is to provide an image at a certain time on the married (62.8%), 34.8% are unmarried,
studied phenomenon - stress. For 0.04% being divorced.
implementation of this quantitative research Stress and stress concerns
was chosen as a research method - the survey. 45% of respondents work more than 48 hours
For this purpose, a structured questionnaire per week. In these circumstances, it is not
was developed in two parts with 35 questions. surprising that 70% of respondents believe
they are affected by stress (Fig. no. 2).

Figure no. 2 Working time/week in the case of managers

and entrepreneurs from Bihor County

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It follows therefore that a larger number of respondents believe they are affected by stress. 69%
say they are concerned about stress, but only 21% say they have adopted measures to combat
stress. Also a small number of managers (18%) say that the organization in which workers have
been taken measures to combat stress. (Fig. no. 3))

Figure no. 3 Managers, entrepreneurs and organization’s attitude towards stress

To a large extent (85%) respondents considered that work is the main source of stress in their
lives. (Fig. no. 4)

Figure no. 4 The main stress factors

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